Hirdaramani Group promotes circular economy

The Hirdaramani Group, one of Sri Lanka’s biggest apparel exporters, recently teamed up with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s ‘Make Fashion Circular’ initiative to improve use of resources, encourage regenerative efforts, reduce energy and water use, and reduce waste with better design in apparel manufacturing, according to its Director Nikhil Hirdaramani.

The development is part of its sustainability initiative, he said. “Fast fashion has become one of the most polluting industries. While apparel production has increased, the time clothing is worn has fallen, resulting in much waste which ends up in landfills,” report quoted Hirdaramani as telling a forum for fashion industry students and officials from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in the United States recently.

The group is part of a global project to redesign jeans to make their manufacturing sustainable by 2021. Hirdaramani said their efforts focus on garment durability, material health, recyclability, and traceability. The group employs about 20,000 people in factories across the island and provides apparel design, production and delivery services to some of the world’s top fashion and clothing brands.